"There are several technical glitches here. First and fundamentally, sound does not travel in a vacuum; it requires some kind of medium through which the vibrations can propagate. Presumably, Eminiar's scientists solved this problem. "

"There is an alternative way of explaining this phenomenon: We have been told several times during the show that the orbit of the Enterprise will decay rapidly if she loses engine power. Since the mass of the Enterprise is colossal, this means that it is ordinary for starships of the 23rd century to follow very low orbits, sometimes getting closer then 50 kilometers to the ground. Atmospheric pressure at such altitudes is low, but not low enough to prevent the propagation of sound."

"Second, "18 to the 12th power decibels" by itself is somewhat meaningless, since the decibel is a relative unit. Perhaps the 0dB reference point is something all Starfleetofficers know, and only we viewers are baffled. Finally, since the decibel scale is logarithmic, 18 to the 12th power is a staggering amount of energy, since one would have to calculate the base 10 antilogarithm of a sixteen digit number. Perhaps the method of reporting values, or the meaning of the unit, has changed by the time of the 23rd century."

Lots of original research and speculation. --Alan 18:08, 7 December 2008 (UTC)